Since then, my eyes aren’t what they used to be but more importantly technology has improved by leaps and bounds, so it made sense that I not fight it.
As your skills improve, you become more and more selective about when you take pictures especially if you’re doing it for yourself.
So don’t be surprised if you catch yourself waiting for the sun to peek out from behind the clouds.
While I was at this year’s Lunar Festival in downtown Riverside, my camera didn’t leave the bag as I was walking around.
It was very overcast all afternoon.
Fortunately when the band called Liquid Blue performed on the main stage, the clouds parted and we got some nice warm late evening sunlight bathing the stage.
I was able to walk around and keep the backgrounds dark and in shadow so that my subject, the singers, easily stood out without any post-production.
Compare the pictures I made of the crowd and audience not lit by the sun and those of the stage and you’ll get a feel of the big difference it makes.
The late evening strong directional light may be a little tougher to expose but it sure makes the singers ‘pop’ because of the contrast.
Last year I met a lot of wonderful photographers when I was invited to speak to a photography club, the Inland Empire Photo Club, in the city of Temecula.
I’m starting the year speaking to another photography club, this time in Orange County, the South County Photography club.
They are apparently the sister club of the IEPC.
I guess I didn’t blow it when I visited IEPC so I got a referral to speak to their sister club.
Speaking to a group of photographers can be unnerving if I sat down and thought about it too much.
Like the last time, I will probably show some samples of my work then move on to my live demo on using small speedlites for portraits.
By the way, I’m offering my Small Flash Lighting workshop Part 1 this Saturday in Riverside because some of my students missed it but went on the Part 2.
If you are interested in any of these classes please complete the forms found on the following pages.
As a Lightroom user I love its ability to quickly sort through my pictures so effortlessly especially when I want to quickly see the images I made over the course of one year. Continue reading My favorite 2015 images→
Photo tips from a creative Southern California photographer